UEFA Champions League Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund Emirates Stadium Wednesday, November 23, 2011 1945 UK; 2:45 pm EST TV: SS2, not sure in the USA (looks like Bayern-Napoli is on FSC) Group Standings: Arsenal - 8 pts Marseille - 7 pts Dortmund - 4 pts Olympiakos - 3 pts A win here secures our passage out of the group and would go a long way towards getting us first place. An Arsenal win and a Marseille draw would likely give us first place in the group, while an Arsenal win and a Marseille loss would guarantee us having first place (someone check me on that!). I'd like to see a bit of rotation -- not too much, as it's important to win (and we don't have any fullbacks to rotate, anyway). It's been a while since we've seen Arshavin -- maybe he'll get a start here.
So, how many minutes does Park get in this game? Seriously. Besides at CB (and arguably DM/CM) we have zero depth...
I don't know who you rotate. The problem is that we have Fulham on Saturday, and then City on Tuesday in the CC. None of these are natural rotation games. City's squad is so strong that we'll have to decide whether to play a near full strength team or practically forfeit. And then we're right back into the league the follow sat and CL mid week again. Some hard decisions coming up, especially with RvP. I think we have to try to lock up qualifying now and hope that olympiacos game is meaningless.
I definitely think we rotate for the City Carling Cup game. Definitely not a priority. I foresee my run of starting match threads may end with that game though.
Arsene has already mentioned that he will rotate. I would not be surprised to see Arshavin against Borussia D (with Gervinho sitting). Chamack was on the bench today and may start on Wed. JD may be an option as well at the right back position with Kos pairing with Verm at CB.
Arshavin and Park were great together against Bolton, maybe giving them another opportunity together isn't a bad idea... they haven't played many games so they should easily play both midweek fixtures coming up. Chamakh I don't mind seeing - I think we'll need a different approach but I have no idea how we can get the most out of his limited range of skills. His confidence is gone. Maybe dude needs a loan spell. I was thinking today (during the Norwich match) that Coquelin is probably a better replacement for Arteta than Song at the moment. Certainly the kid is talented enough to do a decent role regardless of the competition - lacks the composure that Arteta brings, however.
Please lets not not waste our limited resources on the CC! Seems to me the focus must be the CL and the Prem. where we are doing just fine recently. A very good question raised earlier.....why aren't we seeing more of Park???
aren't placings in the CL, when teams are level on points, decided by head to head results? if that's correct then if marseille draw and we win we will take 1st place no matter if we lose the last match and marseille win theirs, leaving both level on 11 points but arsenal with the better head to head.
Nah, not necessarily. A good couple of draws in the FA Cup could see us go far there. And I like our chances against anyone in a one and off match.
This'll be my first chance to watch one our CL matches live (no work on Wednesday ). Are we not on FSC? I'm not gonna have to "stream it", will I?
Group Stage tie breakers in order: 1. Head to head points 2. Head to head goal difference 3. Away goals between tied teams 4. Goal difference 5. Goals scored 6. UEFA co-effecient points 7. Feats of strength Disappointing that feats of strength is not valued as highly as we hoped.
Yes, and a win for us clinches a spot in the knockout stage. Even a draw virtually clinches that - it would mean Olympiakos has to beat both Marseille and us in their last two matches while Marseille would have to beat Dortmund in their final match. Of course I'd like to win the group and avoid the really tough opponents in the round of 16, but if you haven't looked at the other group tables lately, there are a lot of good clubs in second and some surprises in first. So the draw will of course be a crap shoot no matter how we finish our group. We're a much more confident club than the first time we faced Dortmund and I can't see them finding another equalizer like that one again. I say 3-1 to the Arsenal and we tidy up the group with some of our depth against Olympiakos.
Really want to see a win here so that we can send the 2nd team out for the last game. I am going with a hard fought 2-1 win.